Never have humans ever had so much capacity to destroy. Physics has put the world into a state of moral decay, where threatening others with nuclear holocaust is seen as a necessary evil for a ruler. Nuclear war seems imminent, and nobody seems to blame the people who dedicated their lives to create it. Physics has paradoxically made it impossible to fully understand the universe: the nuclear bomb has put a hard limit on how long humans can experience and study the cosmos.
Everyone who spent their lives in dedication to this practice has lived in vein. The end result of finding out about our cosmos is about to end civilization.
Scientists like to see themselves and their work as morally neutral, at worst. But I don't understand how science can forgive itself. Even medicine, for all its life-affirming pursuits, could put the tools of bioweapons in the hands of every man evil enough to cause mass death.
How will the histories (that will never be created, due to the true destruction of the nuclear bomb) judge our pursuit of knowledge about the universe? Will they see physicists as wonderers about our cosmos, or will they see the secrets of life and death as a morally questionable pursuit?
If God does exist, hopefully he can find solace in knowing humans can understand the cosmos as we work to destroy it.
Behridudnfbrnbdnd t1_j5grf4y wrote
Reply to /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | January 16, 2023 by BernardJOrtcutt
Should physics be forgiven?
Never have humans ever had so much capacity to destroy. Physics has put the world into a state of moral decay, where threatening others with nuclear holocaust is seen as a necessary evil for a ruler. Nuclear war seems imminent, and nobody seems to blame the people who dedicated their lives to create it. Physics has paradoxically made it impossible to fully understand the universe: the nuclear bomb has put a hard limit on how long humans can experience and study the cosmos.
Everyone who spent their lives in dedication to this practice has lived in vein. The end result of finding out about our cosmos is about to end civilization.
Scientists like to see themselves and their work as morally neutral, at worst. But I don't understand how science can forgive itself. Even medicine, for all its life-affirming pursuits, could put the tools of bioweapons in the hands of every man evil enough to cause mass death.
How will the histories (that will never be created, due to the true destruction of the nuclear bomb) judge our pursuit of knowledge about the universe? Will they see physicists as wonderers about our cosmos, or will they see the secrets of life and death as a morally questionable pursuit?
If God does exist, hopefully he can find solace in knowing humans can understand the cosmos as we work to destroy it.